April 2023
dense woods limited artillery to the roadway. Some Federal infantrymen started building improvised breastworks, but the Vermonters soon received an order to attack.
Moving forward in battleline, the landscape made communication difficult. Col. Lewis Grant, commanding the brigade, noted in his official report that, “The ground was covered with brush and small timber so dense that it was impossible for an officer at any point of the line to see any other point several yards distant.” The Vermonters fired a volley and then “hugged the ground as closely as possible, and kept up a rapid fire; the enemy did the same,” Grant reported. It was as if lead was flying from smoke shrouded trees fired by ghosts
The Vermont Brigade’s heroism at the Battle of the Wilderness is honored by a monument where they encountered some of their hardest fighting. (Tim Talbott)
instead of from Confederate rifles. The Vermonters started falling by scores.
Col. Grant tried to dislodge the Confederates, “but the moment our men rose to advance the rapid and constant fire of musketry cut them down with such slaughter that it was found impracticable to do more than maintain our then present position,” he explained. They held firm. After receiving support from three II Corps regiments, Col. Grant, noting a potential weakness in the Confederate line, asked the 5th Vermont to try to break it. Their major responded, “I think we can.” The line went forward and was partly successful, but support troops “were thrown into some confusion” and went to the ground. The 5th Vermont outpaced its help and soon had to hit the dirt, too. With their ammunition nearly exhausted, II Corps units relived the Vermonters, who retired to their previous Brock Road position when darkness mercifully halted the fighting. The Vermonters had fought for about five hours.
Getty’s brigades, and particularly the Vermont men, had helped plug the gap A. P. Hill’s Confederates were making, and then held it until the II Corps was able to get into position. Their effort was at a fearful cost. Col. Grant explained that, “One thousand brave officers and men of the Vermont Brigade fell on that bloody field. Was the result commensurate to the sacrifice? Whether it was or not the battle once commenced had to be fought.” Regardless of whether the II Corps had been able to hold its own, “the enemy would have secured the important position and completely cut off that corps from the rest of the army,” if the Vermonters had not acted Grant noted.
May 6 brought additional combat for the Vermont Brigade as it attacked along with the II Corps and successfully pushed A.
The Colorado Gun Collectors 57th Annual Antique & C&R Gun Show May 20-21 2023 at The Island Grove Event Center in Greeley Colorado
P. Hill’s Confederates out of their improvised earthworks. However, James Longstreet’s Corps arrived on scene in the nick of time and counterattacked, forcing the Federals back toward Hill’s old position now occupied by Grant’s Vermont men. The brigade commander noted, “Perhaps the valor of Vermont troops and the steadiness and unbroken front of those noble regiments were never more signally displayed.” Taking tremendous casualties again, the Vermont men were fortunately relived by II Corps reinforcements that arrived to relieve the pressure.
According to one historian’s count, the Wilderness cost the Vermont Brigade 1,234 casualties, almost half of its men. The Vermont Brigade went on to earn more laurels at Cold Harbor, Petersburg, and the Shenandoah Valley. The Vermonters returned to Petersburg, where on April 2, 1865, they led the assault that broke the Confederate defensive line, and precipitated the surrender at Appomattox a week later.
CVBT has helped save over 220 acres of Wilderness battlefield land.
The mission of CVBT is to preserve land associated with the four major campaigns of: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Mine Run, and the Overland Campaign, including the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. To learn more about this grassroots preservation non-profit, which has saved over 1,700 acres of hallowed ground, please visit: www.cvbt.org.
